Only having this as a source, her boss seems like an actually good dude. When she admitted someone who couldn't pay, he didn't chastise her for doing it but for not giving him a heads up so he can make it work. When she started acting odd, he insisted she take paid time off because it was good for her and her patients.
He also wanted to chat with her when she was having problems. Seemed very understanding that what she'd seen was causing her distress and didn't seem worried it was taking time out of his day or anything.
One aspect of the trauma entity design that I really like is how it looks like one person crawled inside another person who then crawled inside another and then they’re all just decomposing. Very creepy design.
It’s probably just me but the design sort of reminds me of the Wojak Skull meme face. It was one of the faces from the mr incredibles becoming uncanny meme
Yup. I was expecting her friends to completely abandon them like myself when my father died and my abusive stepmom traumatized me during the funeral. Legit, Ghosted me. After referring to me as, "their brother." Now I have close friends now, but it definitely made me MAKE people MEAN what they say.
It might’ve made its way to her eventually, and who’s to not say there’s multiple of it going around? There’s thousands of suicides every day. She’s be lucky if she gets to die any other way
@@jeffreyisbell7471 those could just be regular suicides. I like the idea that there is only one. Also I like the idea that had she gone home she likely never would’ve encountered it as it would just pass along. It isn’t really a communal disease focused on spreading as much as it’s just an entity focused on convenient sustenance. It makes the idea that this did happen to her all the more tragic and adds a feeling of isolation with the incident that likely adds to the overall hopelessness of the event… it’s a butterfly effect that made her fate so horrible… Another thing with there still being regular suicides and mental health afflictions makes it so people are unlikely to catch on in mass and come up with a way of stopping it… it just blends in with an unfortunate occurrence of the human psyche making it unstoppable. Enough people catch on and it likely will have more obstacles… so it just plays it’s cool with individuals and collateral trauma it causes before the final event is just for kicks.
I found it ironic that Laura’s character was saying “I’m a PHD student, I’m not crazy!” When in reality, mental health struggles and trauma don’t discriminate.
@@kitten_with_bad_breath Actually it’s a fact that men go more with untreated mental health problems that leads to suicide, addiction, and a number of other horrible issues such as violence against their peers. Suicide rates in men are much higher than in women. That’s because asking for help as men is frowned upon, being emotional as a man is seen as “gay” or inherently feminine. This is just a fact. Men perpetuate these stereotypes more than anyone. Sounds like you probably do have bad breath!
Same, when I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought it looked dumb like it'll be funny for the wrong reasons. But in the back of my mind it still looked interesting so I went and saw the movie, and honestly it blew me away of how good it was I wonder if there would be sequel to this movie
I was the opposite. I think I expected too much from it. The trailer gave me hereditary vibes, but then I watched it and it played more like insidious. Not exactly my thing.
What would happen if a cursed person traumatized a whole group of people at once? Everyone gets cursed? While these "one person at a time" horrors are good, I kind of want to see what a lot of people under this affliction would do.
I personally think that's how the trauma demon reproduces, it's most likely that that has happened before, and there are multiple trauma demons out there.
got a feeling that you could beat this thing by sitting down and accepting what happens. letting trauma fester is how it spreads, and trauma feeds itself. the only way to let go of trauma is by acceptance. it happened, it doesnt have to weigh on you.
@@swapertxking lol were talking about a fictional supernatural demon. I'd take my chances getting strung out on Xanax then possibly slitting my own throat with a demonic smile
@@ohsodangerous619 okay but you're forgetting that trauma feeds it. life isnt always going to be fine, but having a stalwart soul will overcome any hurdles.
I feel like wether they’re scared or not, the entity is gonna have them kill themself anyways but since it does enjoy tormenting they’re victim, it’ll just be bored af, kind of like working an actual 9-5 😂
I would assume it has a feeling as to who is a good target. It feeds off of trauma so it could probably sense who has trauma or who is capable of nurturing trauma from the death of its current host.
You could almost see Smile and It Follows in the same universe: strange spiritual parasite/predators that infect the life of someone and force them to pass it on to someone else or die.
So if the entity's target chooses to resist by killing themselves with no one else around, does that mean that the entity will have nowhere to go and just disappear?
I think it makes delusions and prays on the person’s psyche. On top of isolating the person and making them overly tired I think it is good at getting its way and passing onto the next person.
It a parasite that infect a host, altering their behavior, slowly taking control of their body and then entering a new host to reproduce, there are real case of this in the wild such as the zombie ant and zombie snail.
She tried at the end, although someone went to find her and when she thought she beat it she actually just ended up exposing the other person to the monsyer
While watching the film, I figured that maybe Rose could “starve” the entity by healing from her prior trauma since the entity seems to feed off of the victims’ trauma.
Starve it from healing? Eh that thing was doing everything in its power to absolutely break her. Ruined her love life, removed her friends/family, got her put on mandatory work leave, played pretend as her therapist/ dead mom, all while scaring the shit out of her in various ways at every turn. The most unrealistic part was her attempts at fighting it in the end and not just suiciding earlier in the film. Not the brightest out look sure, but there was a demon mentally torturing her that nobody believed existed.
This was the first horror movie since years that actually scared the shit out of me. The acting was so convincing and therefore so unsettling at times. I felt like a child again.
So you must not watch a lot of horror movies. This movie was so corny we couldn't stop laughing. I'm so sick of these cheap mental health gimmicks they try to force into these movies. We get it. It's not deep, it's obnoxious.
@@briardougherty5307 I could show you an actual interdimensional entity that forces you to look away if you want. If you aren’t mentally strong it could ruin your life tho. it feeds on willpower I’m working on ridding myself of my addictions so I can start using it to my benefit
Genuinely one of my favorite Horror movies I’ve seen in ages. I loved so many aspects of this film - the overarching concept, the cinematography, Rose’s realistic psychological descent, the haunting imagery, the scenes that masterfully build tension then lead to jump scares, etc.
The boring predictability of all that you said was the best. The excessive amount of jump scares that were neither needed nor scary came second. The slow, sauntering pace of our main character, no literally, her walking was the focus of too much time and it was slow, boring and not needed. The creature was nice for the less than 2 seconds it was fully on screen, otherwise we had another slow, sauntering actress with bad face paint on stilts, really haunting stuff. The smiling was neat and a unique touch until our main character did her smile and it looked rubbish, way to go for your climax. The tension could definately be felt if you managed to stay fully awake. Most of all, the characters or lack of, were well fleshed out as bored out of their lives and uninvested, excluding the girl that self-deleted herself. All in all, the best horror film I have seen that left me completely uninvested, bored and if it was not for the smiling (positive) and the abnoxious jump scare of the birthday cake (negative), I would have had no discernible feeling towards it at all. Themost 5/10 film I have seen in my life.
As a seasoned horror fan, I can't express how disturbed and uncomfortable I was watching this movie. I actually started to cry on my second viewing cause I could feel what Rose is feeling. They did an excellent job!
My take on her mistake when dealing with the entity was this: It was a representation of her trauma, or at least had become this, showing her her dead mother before attacking. Her mistake was to try to defeat it, snapping its hand and lighting it on fire while in actuality, its entering her body was the representation of her failure to accept her trauma, if she accepted, confronted, AND learned to live the rest of her life with the trauma, instead of trying to quickly defeat and then run away from it, I believe she may have survived, or at least held the creature at bay for some time. (Just my opinion)
She didn’t want to be kind to her mother because she was scared and ashamed of her. Then she goes on to help other mentally troubled people without actually doing them good. I think her lack of honesty made her weak and susceptible to the demon. It got in her mind and destroyed her.
@@seekeroftruth45 she lied to a demon. Nothing about her showed she wasn't trying to help people. I doubt she could survive. The demon can physically harm and restrain people. The only clue to fighting it was trying to use your mind against it. With a sequel in the works who knows if they will find a way to beat it or just make sequels until people wont pay anymore.
Mentally challenging the Smile Demon doesn't work. In the film it gets a person right in front of the protag as she was trying to help her mind. Fighting, overcoming and acceptance don't work on it. Multiple characters in the story with different tactics failed. Maybe an exorcism might work.
One thing that contributed to the nightmare feel of the movie - as well as being insightful - was how everyone around her reacted realistically and relatively appropriate. Rose was presenting as someone who was having a mental breakdown and was a danger to herself and possibly others, and everyone reacted how loved ones would: horrified, concerned, seeking help, etc. This is terrifying because it makes the audience 1. imagine themselves in the situation where no one believes and instead writes them off as 'crazy' (which has been done before but with more exaggeration and less of a real world tone) and 2. implants the 'what if' of "What if someone I've seen with similar behavior was actually was seeing real things, and I disregarded them as just symptoms?" Chances are the audience has said similar reassuring statements to their loved ones as Rose was hearing from her fiancé, therapist, and sister. And the horror of the ending, of course: feeling like you've finally defeated your demons and opened up, only for it not to matter - the horror of never escaping your trauma. Pretty scary stuff.
You would 100% be put on antipsychotics if you were experiencing the level of hallucinations and other symptoms she was experiencing. She was near inpatient level the entire movie.
First truly creepy movie since “Mama”. One very minor point though - at the party I don’t believe that was Laura she saw - there was another woman talking to her earlier when she found out Rose was a psychiatrist - I’m pretty sure that was the woman smiling at her which sent her stumbling back into the table.
Thank you people shit on Mama and I was hearing this movie was crap too, but I love both movies. This one felt a lot like It Follows and I have a fan theory that the entities are related. Like the emotional spectrum of the lantern corps just made up of different feelings like lust and shock.....
Dude why did you have to speak that movie's name that movie generally scarred me like you just I just saw you talk about it and I gently felt my hair stand up
This is the first summary of the creature I've seen that suggest the entity may be an extraplanar being instead of just a demon. I never got the sense the being was a demon because the movie has no religous/spiritual tones, which is usually common in demon movies. Instead I got a more Lovecraftian vibe off of it. The entity drives you mad until it's ready to show you it's true form and once it does it makes you go completely catatonic and literally crawls into your body forcing you to do it's bidding. Throughout the movie the theme of utter hopelessnes against this unkown, basically unstoppable, entity really drove home the Lovrcraftian-ness to me.
@@showoofity50dude the movie society is so f'ed up!! Ive tried to get that goop monster out of my mind. That movie makes me look at rich people differently.
@@mariasarwar3669 No I just got scared, which is what is supposed to happen during a horror movie. Since it stuck with me for a while that makes it a good horror movie. It’s tremendously hard these days to find a horror movie that does that. Also it doesn’t matter how old you are getting scared is what happens to everyone.
This is one of the creepiest takes of demonic possession I’ve seen in a while. The fact that the entity just gaslights her and freaks her out in every horrid way it can think of to break her down. I got the vibe that the entity needed to break its victims to get into them, but it also took great pleasure in it, like a cat playing with a mouse.
Eh, I'm pretty sure it's not a demon. Demons can only be combated using spiritual means, such as dousing with holy water. Those who aren't religious have no power over them. This entity can be beaten without spiritual weapons and by the non religious. If crawling inside and taking over their body was supposed to be a metaphor for people that have gone through trauma acting completely differently than their past selves. Also, the entity behaves much more like a virus. Unlike a demon, It needs to feed to survive, and spreads through contact rather than choosing victims at its own will.
@@toehairyum “Demons can only be combated through spiritual means.” Well, first of all spiritual doesn’t mean Christian, and also the demon does win in the end. The only person it spared was the guy who murdered someone, and that’s only because he continued the cycle. I’m actually curious if Rose could have made some sort of deal with it if she had stayed calm long enough. I mean she works in a place filled with trauma. Maybe she could have used that as a bartering chip. Also…yeah mate this is NOT a virus. I think it’s just a unique interpretation of a demonic possession.
I don't think it takes pleasure from terrifying it. It feels more like it needs the unabridged fear and abominable terror from its victims in order to survive in the first place.
It breaks its victims down in order to feed on their trauma. When it causes its victims, it is basically consuming their psyche. That is why it has so many mouths. Those are its previous victims.
This was the second or third highest grossing horror film of the year, making $216 million dollars against a $17 million dollar budget. I remember watching the trailer in theaters while I was watching TOP GUN MAVERICK, and didn't know what it was about, until I saw the title, and thought, "Wow, what a creepy film this will be."
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it mentioned that Munoz had a previous traumatic incident regarding his brother, prior to the suicide he witnessed? The Smiler also tells Rose her mind is inviting and that’s why it chose her. I think the Smiler can sense whether people have baggage and it goes after people with the most, since it feeds on trauma, and likewise it has proof and precedent they CAN be traumatized, so no worries about encountering someone who genuinely does not give a shit. Likewise, I think it prefers to engineer only a single witness to suicides. Isolation is a big part of the film, and the horrid intimacy of only the victim and the witness leaves the witness with nobody to share what they saw with. They’re totally alone, forced to handle it on their own with support that can only try to relate. It’s like a selfish, clingy hoarder that wants this one person and for themselves only.
And Laura said her grandfather died right in front of her. This implies two possibilities, either it will bend the rules of one week in order to sniff out the best witness/victim. Or, there are just so many people we see everyday that hold unseen trauma that its never hard for it to spread and feed to full satisfaction.
I remember once taking a medication for my anxiety and depression that had a side effect of causing my mouth to contort into a smile. I only took it for about 2 weeks because it physically hurt my face to smile that much. Even myuh family members asked if i was ok bc i was fighting not to smile.
I like to imagine the entity was a person that died in a traumatic way and it chooses to spread that trauma to anyone it can in a relentless manner. I wish the entity had some kind of origin story, but with no hints as to what it is makes it all the more chilling.
Another thing, in the movie the incidents only go back a few weeks if I recall properly. So it only makes sense to me that it started with an individuals downfall rather than some ancient entity that's been around for a millenia spreading trauma unnoticed till recent events in the movie.
Three things which terrify me the more I think about this movie: 1. If the Smiler has to infect someone by infecting a person and killing them in front of another person, how did it first infect to begin the cycle? Did it just spawn from hell and hop into someone? It’s like the Smiler has always been within people, like it’s in a paradoxical cycle. 2. The Smiler most definitely broke into her house and placed Rose’s cat (Mustache) into the train set box she was wrapping for her sisters son. Meaning the Smiler can kill whoever and whenever it wants to. 3. This is something a lot of other people have commented; what happens if someone infected dies in front of a group or crowd of people, instead of just one person? Do they all get infected? Would multiple Smilers exist within other people?
I feel like if the entity could take over multiple people at once he would and that would have been part of the movie. If he could "infect crowds" instead of one person at a time. Because we see near the end of the movie he physically or I guess mentally? Has to force his way into the person's body/psyche. Idk just a guess. But I'm of the belief that he can't inhabit more than one person at a time.
It says in the movie that the cycle has ended before and started again. Maybe it has to do with someone getting a certain amount of trauma? Maybe if someone kills themselves in front of someone without being cursed can cause the cycle to begin? Who really knows.
3.- my thoughts: Not everyone would react the same way, someone must be prone to react way harder or be more traumatised, therefore, it could choose who to consume onto.
I'd love to see the Smiler go up against someone who truly Does Not GaF. Like, there's nothing it can do to unbalance them To the point where it's pissed off at first, but then cowering in fear. Maybe cutting to the end where you see them die of old age. (and the creature dying along with them).
I always wondered what would happen if someone who the entity attached to just killed themselves somewhere no one could ever find them, would it just die off because it doesn't have a new traumatized host to transfer to?
@@homeygfunkoffacherryfruitl4971 after seeing the recap of the movie I hated the ending ah yes I know this creature litterally needs to have someone see me die im going into the woods to a abandon house why not just lite the house on fire
@anthonylopez7887bro just because they like something better then the other thing doesn’t mean their trolling, it’s because they have an opinion, like seriously how many times do we need to have this conversation?
@@strafer8764 But niether of these movies is that original. The Ring came out way before It Follows and Smile with a very similar premise. A nigh unstoppable entity that will inevitably get its victims.
Personally, I love the ending so much. Trauma can absolutely consume its victims and it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective with a different outcome
The thing I really liked about this is that despite what we see as the audience, everything can be explained away in some manner. The movie walks a very fine line in that regard. Even the scene where Rose’s therapist becomes the entity and directly threatens her. We just abruptly cut to Rose stressed out in her car after she’s being pinned against the wall. This suggests it was just in her head.
It’s ALWAYS been just in her head that’s the whole movie none of it is real it’s all just the entity playing with her there’s even a whole minute dedicated to the entity EXPLAINING that it has full control over her mind
@@ilovemovies5410 yeah. the smiler basically made her kill the cat, and wrap it up but she thought she was wrapping a regular gift which is why she doesn’t remember it happening. he played her like a puppet on a string
I would say her not immediately being put on antipsychotics after starting to vividly hallucinate is pretty unrealistic. That’s literally what they are prescribed for, you don’t have to be delusional to get access to them.
Just remember folks... The entity is just a metaphor for trauma. There are two things about this film that horrify me. The absolutely most stressful part was watching her refuse to accept any help at all. It doesn't matter if the entity was real or not. Don't ignore your friends and family. The second, the absolute denial that she had when refusing to acknowledge that she was no longer in control of her own body. While in one way it was the "entity" that boxed the cat. It was her body that was being used. It was the same with the open back door. All the strange things are likely to have been carried out by her while having a seizure or being "possessed". This was the same as the man in prison, he told himself he had no choice it was murder or suicide. This isn't true... He convinced himself, who knows what other options these people had when they failed to simply explore other methods.
The sort of viscerally terrifying thing to think about with this even outside of the plot is that other species can misinterpret human smiles as an aggression display, and the same is true in reverse. There’s a reason that we find an overly-large grin in the dark so terrifying.
When she fell through that glass table. No one helped her. Even I was like “damn I get that she boxed you an expired cat. But c’mon she’s bleeding all over the floor.” Someone get her a napkin. I know she didn’t box the cat.
I just realised, the entity ensured that the next... host I guess?... beyond Joel, would be the little nephew. It seems to prey on people with a history of trauma, making them witness a suicide to push them over the top. The entity used and manipulated Rose into traumatising the nephew on his birthday, giving him past trauma, and making him vulnerable to the entity through Joel.
I feel like one way to fight it would be to buy as many haunted items as you could while going to an extremely haunted area and hoping all of the entities would battle as they all have different goals and rules. Like, for example, as soon as you figure out the pattern you head straight for the Amityville house and hope the demons in the house have beef with the smile entity because they have other plans with you
Wouldn't that just mean that the surviving/strongest ghost will be left with you making your haunting situation even worse? Trading your low tier ghost with a high tier one is suboptimal.
I love how simple yet genius the design of the creature is Sure it’s just a lump of flesh but the way it’s stretched out makes it look like it’s smiling, wether it’s a genuine smile or not is another topic but you don’t know if it’s a smile of glee, malice or actual happiness in it’s own twisted way Also how there are a bunch of rows of teeth inside it, reminds me old internet happy faces like :))))
I see this film as a reflection of society currently. Alot of people are mentally ill now a days and dont seek proper therapy. People walking around day to day just getting by, forced to "smile" through the pain they deal with. It can turn rotten for some of those stricken by mental health issues. Where you see on the news about people killing all these other people, or how our national suicide rate has increased exponentially over the years. And how these actions taken by those with mental health issues, traumatized those around them. From the mass shooter to depressed guy in his mom's basement. I think it was a symbolic. At least in my opinion.
You know some movie monsters I feel like could just use a firm "f*ck off" and a punch to the nose to go away. For some reason when watching the movie I felt like the Trama demon would have been one of those monsters.
@@eldenlord5938 I don't think the movie director wanted people to take away turn your trauma into anger. But I mean if a trauma demon was harassing me I get pretty pissed off and smack it upside the head. I feel like it's a shark or a bear and it looks and acts all tough but when even the slightest bit of resistance is sent it's way it would cower in fear.
@@chulitna5838I mean it certainly seems like the director was saying “it’s impossible to escape your trauma and it will destroy you or everyone else” which is a shit message for someone with trauma
This movie is on the Babadook level of horror. Very impressive. Trauma is an extraordinarily ugly thing. My friend suffered from extreme childhood trauma, but not the kind induced by death... There are things in life that can happen that cause unspeakable psychological horror and pain. The movie does a good job at showing how trauma in general effects people and those around them. Those afflicted with extreme trauma usually shut out everyone around them for this reason. They don't want to harm others and blame themselves beyond reason for the bad things that happened to them. I miss my friend... I really cared about her, and still do. This movie makes me feel even more sympathy for her then ever. She's still alive and trying to find peace in her life, but she kind of shut me out and doesn't speak to me anymore. I have been desperate to reach out, but can't bring myself to handle the pain of getting pushed away again. I don't blame her though. She has been through enough in her life, and this movie is a reminder of how far trauma can root itself into someone. Always look out for others and be kind. You never know what some people have experienced...
Bless you for these words. Empathy is really a value that our world needs more than anything. Unfortunately, it's easily preachable but less easy to actually be empathetic. I'm so sorry about your friend, and I'm sorry for you too. I can only tell you that time heals a lot of wounds. Don't lose hope, for you and your friend ❤
1:20 is the best jumpscare i've seen in recent memory. knowing the convo they had prior and her body language, I was expecting the sister to say something. NOPE!
You’re lucky you didn’t watch the trailer because they added this scene, spoiling the jump scare. I guess they felt having it on the trailer got people to theater seats.
I was surprised by how much I liked this one. My expectations were pretty low though and I wasn't 100% sure what the plot was. All I had seen were some short clips from TikTok that didn't tell what the movie was about. I don't scare easily with movies (I watch them alone at night) and the car scene got me! It's been a long time since a movie scared me so much I had to pause it and take a minute. I was not expecting it! I really thought it was her sister coming back to say something more.
I think the Trauma Entity is extremely patient and uses psychological tactics to make sure you never truly isolate yourself. It needs a witness in order to spread. I think that's why every victim dies on different days. The trauma entity finds the perfect moment to kill and pass itself on to the next host.
I had Watch a lot of horror movies in my lifetime a few impacted me in a terrifying way and this film is one of them. Its been a while since I’ve felt that level of terror since I was eight years, and my god the experience it gave me was exactly that. I want to give a big round of applause to Mr. Finn, you have a lot of talent sir and I sure hope to see more:)
Patrick, we seem to have very similar movie viewing backgrounds - however I have not seen this one yet. Your remark about being impacted in a terrifying way struck a chord with me because that's exactly how I felt after watching Hereditary. I was curious if you had seen it and had a similar experience....
@@chrisd997 what cat? I'm talking about the scene right after she argues with her sister and is in her car. Her "sister" then walks back out of the house, knocks on the window, and her head swings down.
I like that you made a comparison to Pennywise, considering both entities share a trait of feeding off the trauma/ fear of its victims. If Pennywise and the Smile entity existed in the same universe, I wonder if they would team up or fight each other for taking their share of trauma food.
I was watching thinking it was like Pennywise feeding off the persons fear and like IT could be beaten through overcoming fear. But then realised trauma, especially one just witnessed is not overcome so quickly or even truely able to be overcome but only learned to live with
I gotta say as someone who has seen a lot of horror movies in the past few years with creepy monsters, this one got me. That final monster was definitely one of the most creepy designs since the one in The Ritual.
Gotta correct you and say that Laura wasn’t the girl Rose sees every time. The girl smiling at the birthday party was some random chick we never see again in the movie and also the woman on the security call wasn’t Laura. It was the actual woman from the security company. It’s the same voice when the real phone call comes in the second time the phone rings.
Is it me or does the ending give a feeling that joel has a better chance of surviving because he was there for rose the entire time and would know more info than someone who has no idea about the situation
Only problem with that is, he doesn’t know about killing someone else. He had to leave the room so he doesn’t have that piece of information. Would be cool to see him loosing it and accidentally killing someone else and realizing how it works.
@@NinjaCamper94 could set it up that in the end he shot her, shooting an ex you’re still in love with would cause some type of trauma. Would work because of how the end cuts off.
Watching this video reminded me of "the smiling man" an old creepypasta that absolutely terrified me the first time I read it and saw the artistic renditions of what the man could've looked like. There's something very creepy about unsettling wide smiles. The only proper nightmare I've ever had as a child ended with someone or something within one of those boxes filled with power cables luring me to it and as I looked into the hole that was in said box it gave me a wide grin and I woke up.
I was ashamed to be disturbed by smiledog, I was in high school ffs. So, you're not alone with being afraid of a smile copypasta lol. Must be some buried instinctual fear of grinning, since apes grin for much diff reasons than we do, or maybe I just don't want to admit that I was simply afraid of a badly done shop of a husky with people teeth.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau grinning can easily be creepy, especially when unnaturally wide. That said, smile dog was one of the worst creepypastas back then I agree. the smiling man however is actually pretty well written and is very creepy. It's what I was reminded of with this movie. Also back when smile dog was around us who were kids, teenagers or below, seemed to get creeped out by even the lowest effort creepypastas lol. Jeff the killer was really popular despite being arguably the worst creepypasta of all time.
I like the nick name given to this thing, definitely more than appropriate. Especially since it's a sadistic killer. Giving almost infinite joy, and feasting off the traumatized and the depressed, it will always smile.
An excellent horror film that brings light to how trauma/PTSD can manifest in someone and escalate to the point that it completely overtakes and destroys your life eventually leading to suicide or get passed on by doing some awful to other people from the one suffering from it. A bold move by the director to give it the ending it had. It's rare for a horror movie to stick in your mind for days after like this one did for me. And as for the whole smile thing, I remember reading somewhere that people that pick a specific date for them to do it, in the last day or two some become upbeat and happy because they know their suffering will be over soon.
One thing that annoyed me is when her fiancé accuses her of killing the cat when she could’ve just said that it must’ve been whoever broke in the house . She literally has proof that the alarm was triggered and cops were there to check . Idk why he would think it was her .
This is a good movie but trying to follow the logic too much would take you out of it. For an instance, in the movie she was absolutely TERRIBLE at explaining what was happening to her when she literally had the evidence in her hands. And when there is a chain of 19 murders where the victims had a history of chain interaction with one another, the FBI would be all over it. And the cop who found the pattern didn't report it to anyone????? When I watch movies I try to put myself in a "movie mode" where I turn my thinky-thinky part off and enjoy the "movie logic" but sometimes it gets so dumb that I can't help but to groan a little bit.
ive actually hand first hand encounter with an entity like this. once when i was younger i was in my kitchen at 2am yelling 'WE LIKE FORTNITE' for several hours and in entity that looked exactly like my mother showed up and beat the shit out of me
Smile, along with Barbarian, are some of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time. One aspect of Smile that doesn't get enough attention is the sound design! From the opening credits to the last scene, the sounds are as scary as anything you're seeing on the screen.
I was really surprised by Smile. I saw it as a double feature with Terrifier 2. I was worried it was gonna be like truth or dare or the The Bye Bye Man. But it was actually more like it follows. It was full of constant tension, good acting story was pretty good. The only real hang up I had was with the ending. It would have been more emotionally fulfilling if when she overcame her trauma, she had broken the cycle and taken it’s power to perpetuate itself away from it. But maybe that would have been to much like the Babadook.
This. Is how pennywise should have evolved. A being preying on the fears of being an adult it’s a lot more terrifying as you get older. Social expectations of being seen as absolutely fine to everyone and the moment you act up you’re instantly afraid of everything unraveling and therefore your fear takes hold. This a perfect feast for him as that would force him to truly become more twisted
Smile, though your heart is aching... Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by... If you smile through your fear and sorrow, Smile and maybe tomorrow, You'll see the sun come shining through... for you... Light up your face with gladness, Hide every trace of sadness, Although a tear may be ever so near... That's the time you must keep on trying... Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile, If you just smile...
As a devout fan of the Horror genre, I feel in love with this movie! IMO, one of the better modern Horror films as of lately since IT: CHAPTER 2 & EVIL DEAD (remake). It has great elements which make for a well done film of its kind. 'No where to run' Check 👍 'No where to hide' Check 👍& 'No one believes you' Check 👍. Very scary things for our lead protagonist to be forced to deal with. I think of how John Carpenter used isolation and having his characters 'boxed in' with no where to run very often in his movies which where fantastic traits. THE THING, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, & GHOSTS OF MARS are just a few that come to mind. 'Tip of the hat' for the xcellent use of the music for the film to boot! Not everyone in my circle loved it as much as I did, however I highly recommend it for every Horror enthusiast who enjoy a good scare.
I adore monsters like this - the kinds that are based in psychological horror, mental issues, and trauma. It’s not only more ‘realistic’ to me, but it shows how one’s actions can effect others and that certain horrors will forever haunt us. We can never truly run from them, we can only try our best to keep our distance and try to manage things so they don’t get worse. Reminds me of The Babadook, which is also a psychological movie but based in a mother’s trauma and how she slowly turns into an abuser.
I think the Smiler wins by slowly whittling away at the victim’s willpower through all of its twisted shenanigans. When the victim is emotionally worn down and has completely succumbed to despair, the Smiler can take control. Since this game comes down a battle of wills if prefers victims who are already weekend by trauma. Although, even a highly resilient, individual can only take so much harassment from a supernatural entity before he, or she cracks.
I enjoyed that the entity is basically using the same tricks horror movies use to scare audiences. Jump scares. Sound engineering. Plot twists. So we, the audience, are the victims of the horror movie, the entity, trying to scare us.
Yeah so I guess we won't get none of those Joker like Smiles like we did on the movie Truth or Dare. Which to be honest with you I didn't think that movie was all that bad I've seen worse.
I watched this movie when it arrived to streaming services. I had just went through a 2 year psychotic event caused by a bad reaction to experimental ADHD meds. In my psychosis, I was being haunted by 3 silence demons that only I could see who had over a 3 month period burned me alive every night before bed. They would then appear in my day to day life, in anything mirrored and their shapes would hide in the shadows. They had 3 very distinct appearances only I knew. However, an extremely spiritual person I spent time with recalled to me a dream she had about me where she found me with demons attached to my sleeping body and she described the details only I could have known about these entities. She had no idea of my hidden story I had 18 mental health professionals overseeing my case at 1 point. But once I left moved out of the apartment I lived in. The onslaught quickly diminished. Now I only suffer from bad dreams and CPTSD. This movie felt very close to home for me from the view of our protagonist Rose. It certainly makes you wonder about the blurred lines of perceptial reality. Could it be interdimensional crossover? A reach from biblical hell, or simply neuro chemistry gone astray? Good movie though. Keep up the good work 😊
Really good film however I feel that they missed out on making the trauma metaphor come full circle. They could've made the main way to defeat the entity is by conquering one's own trauma that way the allegorical theme of trauma destroying lives would demonstrate how conquering your own trauma is the only way you'll be set free
They sort of alluded to that when Rose “killed” the entity only to find out later trauma just stays with you. One does not “conquer” trauma: one learns to accept and live with it.
As always, make believe is metaphor for real life. Generational trauma is passed on. A bad day at work is taken out on loved ones or road rage. I feel the 'infection' of trauma in me. It makes you not you.
the entity really through me off like it's design really just shocked me so much I felt so uncomfortable afterwards which really doesn't happen to me the ending was truly unexpecting
Only having this as a source, her boss seems like an actually good dude. When she admitted someone who couldn't pay, he didn't chastise her for doing it but for not giving him a heads up so he can make it work. When she started acting odd, he insisted she take paid time off because it was good for her and her patients.
some of my employees says im exactly like him!
@@engoodenwojak918 ok bro
Yeah it's a great change
He also wanted to chat with her when she was having problems. Seemed very understanding that what she'd seen was causing her distress and didn't seem worried it was taking time out of his day or anything.
Yeah this seems like the only one of her support systems that is actually a support system other than the poor Kitty
One aspect of the trauma entity design that I really like is how it looks like one person crawled inside another person who then crawled inside another and then they’re all just decomposing. Very creepy design.
That sounds traumatizing
Good lord that makes it even worse
Jesus I hadn't noticed that detail.. That is morbid
It’s probably just me but the design sort of reminds me of the Wojak Skull meme face. It was one of the faces from the mr incredibles becoming uncanny meme
Yeah I took it as all the victims it's 'swallowed'
Wow.....this movie made the concept of supernatural smiling entities actually scary instead of what Truth or Dare did. Good on you movie makers.
There’s just one difference, this one was good truth or dare was bland its very boring & mediocre.
Honestly wasn’t a huge fan of this movie
@@danny_decheeto8300 “Are you a fan of truth or dare?”
@@Rand0m_Mex1can14 nah never seen it
@@danny_decheeto8300 You’re lucky, it’s a mid movie.
Props to most of her friends being completely useless in a time of need.
Yup. I was expecting her friends to completely abandon them like myself when my father died and my abusive stepmom traumatized me during the funeral.
Legit, Ghosted me. After referring to me as, "their brother."
Now I have close friends now, but it definitely made me MAKE people MEAN what they say.
Especially her fiance
This movie also shows how cops won't save you when you need them 💀
Much like real people
@@schizoidmeme5470 🙂
It’s crazy to realize that if she went home like her boss suggested this all probably wouldn’t have happened to her.
It might’ve made its way to her eventually, and who’s to not say there’s multiple of it going around? There’s thousands of suicides every day. She’s be lucky if she gets to die any other way
I think that plays into the theme, yeah?
@@jeffreyisbell7471 those could just be regular suicides.
I like the idea that there is only one.
Also I like the idea that had she gone home she likely never would’ve encountered it as it would just pass along. It isn’t really a communal disease focused on spreading as much as it’s just an entity focused on convenient sustenance.
It makes the idea that this did happen to her all the more tragic and adds a feeling of isolation with the incident that likely adds to the overall hopelessness of the event… it’s a butterfly effect that made her fate so horrible…
Another thing with there still being regular suicides and mental health afflictions makes it so people are unlikely to catch on in mass and come up with a way of stopping it… it just blends in with an unfortunate occurrence of the human psyche making it unstoppable. Enough people catch on and it likely will have more obstacles… so it just plays it’s cool with individuals and collateral trauma it causes before the final event is just for kicks.
It would happen to some of the staff. 😳
This makes me feel likes it compels them to stay around these people
I found it ironic that Laura’s character was saying “I’m a PHD student, I’m not crazy!” When in reality, mental health struggles and trauma don’t discriminate.
Exactly. Most of the doctors I’ve had interactions with in the past few years have come across as being at the very least on the spectrum.
Women ☕
@@kitten_with_bad_breath Actually it’s a fact that men go more with untreated mental health problems that leads to suicide, addiction, and a number of other horrible issues such as violence against their peers. Suicide rates in men are much higher than in women. That’s because asking for help as men is frowned upon, being emotional as a man is seen as “gay” or inherently feminine. This is just a fact. Men perpetuate these stereotypes more than anyone. Sounds like you probably do have bad breath!
Didn't have very high hopes for this movie, but was pleasantly surprised by how good it was
Same! My expectations were very low.
Sometimes it’s the one that you don’t expect to be good that surprises you
Same, when I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought it looked dumb like it'll be funny for the wrong reasons. But in the back of my mind it still looked interesting so I went and saw the movie, and honestly it blew me away of how good it was I wonder if there would be sequel to this movie
I was the opposite. I think I expected too much from it. The trailer gave me hereditary vibes, but then I watched it and it played more like insidious. Not exactly my thing.
@@fourlightsorchestra same here, i think it was one of the worst movies yet
What would happen if a cursed person traumatized a whole group of people at once? Everyone gets cursed? While these "one person at a time" horrors are good, I kind of want to see what a lot of people under this affliction would do.
basically either zombie movie or bird box/the happening remake
So the rings film? Give this one $ the sequel might do it too
I personally think that's how the trauma demon reproduces, it's most likely that that has happened before, and there are multiple trauma demons out there.
@@cloberlobster2276 decent theory, it's only 1 of a type of demon with many many like itself spread throughout the world.
@@cloberlobster2276 Nah, if they reproduced so easily they would have already overun and destroyed humanity.
got a feeling that you could beat this thing by sitting down and accepting what happens. letting trauma fester is how it spreads, and trauma feeds itself. the only way to let go of trauma is by acceptance. it happened, it doesnt have to weigh on you.
Or a bunch of xanax
@@ohsodangerous619 that just treats the syptoms, not the problem. drugs are bad for you in the long run.
Just shrug it off
@@swapertxking lol were talking about a fictional supernatural demon.
I'd take my chances getting strung out on Xanax then possibly slitting my own throat with a demonic smile
@@ohsodangerous619 okay but you're forgetting that trauma feeds it. life isnt always going to be fine, but having a stalwart soul will overcome any hurdles.
What if the witness isn’t traumatized by what they saw, are they still cursed? What if the witness was like “meh I’ve seen worse.” 😂
I feel like wether they’re scared or not, the entity is gonna have them kill themself anyways but since it does enjoy tormenting they’re victim, it’ll just be bored af, kind of like working an actual 9-5 😂
@@cbmazo9229 its just the flying dutchman and spongebob situation xD
@@ZyroShadowPony funniest thing I’ve read all day
@@ZyroShadowPony
The smile entity: **Tries to scare me**
Me: **Unamused**
Like that SpongeBob meme lmao
I would assume it has a feeling as to who is a good target. It feeds off of trauma so it could probably sense who has trauma or who is capable of nurturing trauma from the death of its current host.
You could almost see Smile and It Follows in the same universe: strange spiritual parasite/predators that infect the life of someone and force them to pass it on to someone else or die.
"Could put Truth or Dare in that 'universe' as well. Maybe even Final Destination."
i said the same thing
@@68Fourty72 So Death, a trauma entity, and a sex entity walk into a bar...
but then if you manage to infected someone with all of them, what going to happen?
@@dineez627 LMAO
So if the entity's target chooses to resist by killing themselves with no one else around, does that mean that the entity will have nowhere to go and just disappear?
I think it makes delusions and prays on the person’s psyche. On top of isolating the person and making them overly tired I think it is good at getting its way and passing onto the next person.
If I was the cop I would've put my gun to my head before Rose set herself on fire.
It a parasite that infect a host, altering their behavior, slowly taking control of their body and then entering a new host to reproduce, there are real case of this in the wild such as the zombie ant and zombie snail.
I think it would “talk” them out of it, or force them to wait until the time was right/ someone else was around to see it.
She tried at the end, although someone went to find her and when she thought she beat it she actually just ended up exposing the other person to the monsyer
Honestly, watching this movie gave me the first load of genuine fear I've felt in years, truly the best horror movie in recent years
Same when I saw the smile demons full form I actually got super nervous from it like holy.
That car scene!!! It's been a LONG time since a movie made me pause it and take a minute to collect myself.
Facts
Damn it do i want to buy this or not
@@chrisgriffin6489 don't. These people are overhyping it. It's generic and predictable.
While watching the film, I figured that maybe Rose could “starve” the entity by healing from her prior trauma since the entity seems to feed off of the victims’ trauma.
Starve it from healing? Eh that thing was doing everything in its power to absolutely break her. Ruined her love life, removed her friends/family, got her put on mandatory work leave, played pretend as her therapist/ dead mom, all while scaring the shit out of her in various ways at every turn. The most unrealistic part was her attempts at fighting it in the end and not just suiciding earlier in the film. Not the brightest out look sure, but there was a demon mentally torturing her that nobody believed existed.
But the entity introduced a new trauma to rose in the form of the suicide she witnessed. The other traumas just helped feed it even more
Sadly she couldn't beat it and at the end it best her and possed her and passed it to joel
No way around it. It was going to force trauma if it had to to accomplish it's goal
This was the first horror movie since years that actually scared the shit out of me. The acting was so convincing and therefore so unsettling at times. I felt like a child again.
It’s probably because of the real-life concept it is based on
Imagine if this entity was real 😳
So you must not watch a lot of horror movies. This movie was so corny we couldn't stop laughing. I'm so sick of these cheap mental health gimmicks they try to force into these movies. We get it. It's not deep, it's obnoxious.
The trauma entity’s design was so good. Definitely going to give me nightmares.
It's so good!
But isn't it supposed to be funny? Why get nightmares?
It makes you wan't to look away
@@briardougherty5307 I could show you an actual interdimensional entity that forces you to look away if you want. If you aren’t mentally strong it could ruin your life tho. it feeds on willpower I’m working on ridding myself of my addictions so I can start using it to my benefit
@@lucre113 🌽 ⚽️
Genuinely one of my favorite Horror movies I’ve seen in ages. I loved so many aspects of this film - the overarching concept, the cinematography, Rose’s realistic psychological descent, the haunting imagery, the scenes that masterfully build tension then lead to jump scares, etc.
wow.. you've hit the nail on the head on this movie!
The boring predictability of all that you said was the best. The excessive amount of jump scares that were neither needed nor scary came second. The slow, sauntering pace of our main character, no literally, her walking was the focus of too much time and it was slow, boring and not needed. The creature was nice for the less than 2 seconds it was fully on screen, otherwise we had another slow, sauntering actress with bad face paint on stilts, really haunting stuff. The smiling was neat and a unique touch until our main character did her smile and it looked rubbish, way to go for your climax. The tension could definately be felt if you managed to stay fully awake. Most of all, the characters or lack of, were well fleshed out as bored out of their lives and uninvested, excluding the girl that self-deleted herself.
All in all, the best horror film I have seen that left me completely uninvested, bored and if it was not for the smiling (positive) and the abnoxious jump scare of the birthday cake (negative), I would have had no discernible feeling towards it at all. Themost 5/10 film I have seen in my life.
As a seasoned horror fan, I can't express how disturbed and uncomfortable I was watching this movie. I actually started to cry on my second viewing cause I could feel what Rose is feeling. They did an excellent job!
My coffee is stronger than you. Lol
@@LunchSays your coffee is the only warm thing in your life, evidently.
@@LunchSays your coffee has no texture nor flavor, just plane bitter taste. Got it.
@@ms.greywolf8228 you drink textured coffee?
Why cry?
My take on her mistake when dealing with the entity was this: It was a representation of her trauma, or at least had become this, showing her her dead mother before attacking. Her mistake was to try to defeat it, snapping its hand and lighting it on fire while in actuality, its entering her body was the representation of her failure to accept her trauma, if she accepted, confronted, AND learned to live the rest of her life with the trauma, instead of trying to quickly defeat and then run away from it, I believe she may have survived, or at least held the creature at bay for some time. (Just my opinion)
She didn’t want to be kind to her mother because she was scared and ashamed of her. Then she goes on to help other mentally troubled people without actually doing them good. I think her lack of honesty made her weak and susceptible to the demon. It got in her mind and destroyed her.
@@Babu-kr3cr Was it a lack of honesty though?
@@esyphillis101 Yes, she lied when confronted by her mother's impersonation.
@@seekeroftruth45 she lied to a demon. Nothing about her showed she wasn't trying to help people. I doubt she could survive. The demon can physically harm and restrain people. The only clue to fighting it was trying to use your mind against it. With a sequel in the works who knows if they will find a way to beat it or just make sequels until people wont pay anymore.
Mentally challenging the Smile Demon doesn't work. In the film it gets a person right in front of the protag as she was trying to help her mind. Fighting, overcoming and acceptance don't work on it. Multiple characters in the story with different tactics failed. Maybe an exorcism might work.
One thing that contributed to the nightmare feel of the movie - as well as being insightful - was how everyone around her reacted realistically and relatively appropriate. Rose was presenting as someone who was having a mental breakdown and was a danger to herself and possibly others, and everyone reacted how loved ones would: horrified, concerned, seeking help, etc. This is terrifying because it makes the audience 1. imagine themselves in the situation where no one believes and instead writes them off as 'crazy' (which has been done before but with more exaggeration and less of a real world tone)
and 2. implants the 'what if' of "What if someone I've seen with similar behavior was actually was seeing real things, and I disregarded them as just symptoms?" Chances are the audience has said similar reassuring statements to their loved ones as Rose was hearing from her fiancé, therapist, and sister.
And the horror of the ending, of course: feeling like you've finally defeated your demons and opened up, only for it not to matter - the horror of never escaping your trauma. Pretty scary stuff.
You would 100% be put on antipsychotics if you were experiencing the level of hallucinations and other symptoms she was experiencing. She was near inpatient level the entire movie.
First truly creepy movie since “Mama”. One very minor point though - at the party I don’t believe that was Laura she saw - there was another woman talking to her earlier when she found out Rose was a psychiatrist - I’m pretty sure that was the woman smiling at her which sent her stumbling back into the table.
Thank you people shit on Mama and I was hearing this movie was crap too, but I love both movies. This one felt a lot like It Follows and I have a fan theory that the entities are related. Like the emotional spectrum of the lantern corps just made up of different feelings like lust and shock.....
@@zerofitz that's a good point about the similarities! I loved It Follows and I was surprised by how much I liked this movie.
Yes! I love mama and I think it’s truly underrated.
Dude why did you have to speak that movie's name that movie generally scarred me like you just I just saw you talk about it and I gently felt my hair stand up
Since Mama? Really? It came out in 2013
This is the first summary of the creature I've seen that suggest the entity may be an extraplanar being instead of just a demon. I never got the sense the being was a demon because the movie has no religous/spiritual tones, which is usually common in demon movies. Instead I got a more Lovecraftian vibe off of it. The entity drives you mad until it's ready to show you it's true form and once it does it makes you go completely catatonic and literally crawls into your body forcing you to do it's bidding. Throughout the movie the theme of utter hopelessnes against this unkown, basically unstoppable, entity really drove home the Lovrcraftian-ness to me.
Great the perfect thumbnail for 3 am, thanks
You're welcome. Good night lol
This demon is literally one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in a horror movie. That thing lived rent free in my nightmares for a solid week.
Yeah i just wish they showed it more, instead of showing it at the last 3 seconds of the movie
oh dude you should watch society.
@@showoofity50dude the movie society is so f'ed up!! Ive tried to get that goop monster out of my mind. That movie makes me look at rich people differently.
What are you ?12?
@@mariasarwar3669 No I just got scared, which is what is supposed to happen during a horror movie. Since it stuck with me for a while that makes it a good horror movie. It’s tremendously hard these days to find a horror movie that does that. Also it doesn’t matter how old you are getting scared is what happens to everyone.
This is one of the creepiest takes of demonic possession I’ve seen in a while. The fact that the entity just gaslights her and freaks her out in every horrid way it can think of to break her down.
I got the vibe that the entity needed to break its victims to get into them, but it also took great pleasure in it, like a cat playing with a mouse.
Eh, I'm pretty sure it's not a demon. Demons can only be combated using spiritual means, such as dousing with holy water. Those who aren't religious have no power over them. This entity can be beaten without spiritual weapons and by the non religious. If crawling inside and taking over their body was supposed to be a metaphor for people that have gone through trauma acting completely differently than their past selves. Also, the entity behaves much more like a virus. Unlike a demon, It needs to feed to survive, and spreads through contact rather than choosing victims at its own will.
@@toehairyum “Demons can only be combated through spiritual means.”
Well, first of all spiritual doesn’t mean Christian, and also the demon does win in the end. The only person it spared was the guy who murdered someone, and that’s only because he continued the cycle.
I’m actually curious if Rose could have made some sort of deal with it if she had stayed calm long enough. I mean she works in a place filled with trauma. Maybe she could have used that as a bartering chip.
Also…yeah mate this is NOT a virus. I think it’s just a unique interpretation of a demonic possession.
Jokes on it: I was broken years ago.
I don't think it takes pleasure from terrifying it. It feels more like it needs the unabridged fear and abominable terror from its victims in order to survive in the first place.
It breaks its victims down in order to feed on their trauma. When it causes its victims, it is basically consuming their psyche. That is why it has so many mouths. Those are its previous victims.
When that thing revealed itself... Ugh, definitely one of the scariest designs I've ever seen man
Makes you freeze the same way Rose did. Its pure shock
@@filmcomicsexplained No kiddin'
And thanks for responding btw, love your content
It looks like RE Village's baby monster.
Marilyn Manson did a great job as the demon, really scary stuff.
@@diapollockal8962 oh god you’re right😭
This was the second or third highest grossing horror film of the year, making $216 million dollars against a $17 million dollar budget.
I remember watching the trailer in theaters while I was watching TOP GUN MAVERICK, and didn't know what it was about, until I saw the title, and thought, "Wow, what a creepy film this will be."
When I saw the trailer I said, great another dumb cheesy horror movie about smiling people. Watched it and was decently surprised at how good it was.
This exact situation happened to me too lmao. Awesome film
Poor Rose. I don't think I've ever felt so bad for a horror movie victim.
This movie managed to do something 95% of horror movies never do for me... It had moments in it that legit spooked me or chilled me to the core.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it mentioned that Munoz had a previous traumatic incident regarding his brother, prior to the suicide he witnessed? The Smiler also tells Rose her mind is inviting and that’s why it chose her.
I think the Smiler can sense whether people have baggage and it goes after people with the most, since it feeds on trauma, and likewise it has proof and precedent they CAN be traumatized, so no worries about encountering someone who genuinely does not give a shit.
Likewise, I think it prefers to engineer only a single witness to suicides. Isolation is a big part of the film, and the horrid intimacy of only the victim and the witness leaves the witness with nobody to share what they saw with. They’re totally alone, forced to handle it on their own with support that can only try to relate. It’s like a selfish, clingy hoarder that wants this one person and for themselves only.
100% the Smiler chooses its victims wisely and makes sure all “transfers” are a one-witness scenario.
And Laura said her grandfather died right in front of her.
This implies two possibilities, either it will bend the rules of one week in order to sniff out the best witness/victim. Or, there are just so many people we see everyday that hold unseen trauma that its never hard for it to spread and feed to full satisfaction.
The chuckle the entity made was terrifying.
Wow, Morgan calling the police because he knew he cant do anything alone. Thats rare in horror movies
I remember once taking a medication for my anxiety and depression that had a side effect of causing my mouth to contort into a smile. I only took it for about 2 weeks because it physically hurt my face to smile that much. Even myuh family members asked if i was ok bc i was fighting not to smile.
Dang man that honestly sounds like torture in a way, glad you're no longer dealing with that!
@@InspireCreate43 yeah it really sucked. I honestly felt like i was the Joker being forced to smile like that.
Did you report that to the FDA?
Shit those are some mad happy pills
that kind of medicine doesnt exist...
I like to imagine the entity was a person that died in a traumatic way and it chooses to spread that trauma to anyone it can in a relentless manner. I wish the entity had some kind of origin story, but with no hints as to what it is makes it all the more chilling.
Another thing, in the movie the incidents only go back a few weeks if I recall properly. So it only makes sense to me that it started with an individuals downfall rather than some ancient entity that's been around for a millenia spreading trauma unnoticed till recent events in the movie.
@@brysss1648 yeah but the guy in jail also said he researched and found another one that had existed in another country
Sounds to me like that the person who died is a shitty individual in that case
Three things which terrify me the more I think about this movie:
1. If the Smiler has to infect someone by infecting a person and killing them in front of another person, how did it first infect to begin the cycle? Did it just spawn from hell and hop into someone? It’s like the Smiler has always been within people, like it’s in a paradoxical cycle.
2. The Smiler most definitely broke into her house and placed Rose’s cat (Mustache) into the train set box she was wrapping for her sisters son. Meaning the Smiler can kill whoever and whenever it wants to.
3. This is something a lot of other people have commented; what happens if someone infected dies in front of a group or crowd of people, instead of just one person? Do they all get infected? Would multiple Smilers exist within other people?
I feel like if the entity could take over multiple people at once he would and that would have been part of the movie. If he could "infect crowds" instead of one person at a time. Because we see near the end of the movie he physically or I guess mentally? Has to force his way into the person's body/psyche. Idk just a guess. But I'm of the belief that he can't inhabit more than one person at a time.
It says in the movie that the cycle has ended before and started again. Maybe it has to do with someone getting a certain amount of trauma? Maybe if someone kills themselves in front of someone without being cursed can cause the cycle to begin? Who really knows.
3.- my thoughts:
Not everyone would react the same way, someone must be prone to react way harder or be more traumatised, therefore, it could choose who to consume onto.
@@FragnarokNethermaster This. Just like a predator approaches a herd, it will choose the weakest one to eat.
@@FragnarokNethermaster exactly my thoughts more people would suffer from the trauma
I had my headphones on and that beginning part scared the piss out of me 😂
Damn. I'm mad for you.. 🤣
Same here mate 😂
Same here that shit gave me a sense of lingering dread.
I'd love to see the Smiler go up against someone who truly Does Not GaF.
Like, there's nothing it can do to unbalance them
To the point where it's pissed off at first, but then cowering in fear.
Maybe cutting to the end where you see them die of old age.
(and the creature dying along with them).
Like when David jones stays with SpongeBob and eventually is no longer scary because SpongeBob is used to his antics
@@connorbestbarlow1043 essentially, yeah.
I always wondered what would happen if someone who the entity attached to just killed themselves somewhere no one could ever find them, would it just die off because it doesn't have a new traumatized host to transfer to?
@@homeygfunkoffacherryfruitl4971 after seeing the recap of the movie I hated the ending ah yes I know this creature litterally needs to have someone see me die im going into the woods to a abandon house why not just lite the house on fire
If a person haunted by an evil trauma entity dies in the woods and no one’s around to see it, can it make a sound?…. I mean…. Can it stop the curse?
It kinda reminds me of "It Follows". Both movies are definitely unique and have that creepy factor to it.
Feels like a mix of It Follows and IT, it feels very horrifying how malicious the entity is and only the afflicted can see it.
This movie gave me truth or dare vibes.
It Follows is much better
@anthonylopez7887bro just because they like something better then the other thing doesn’t mean their trolling, it’s because they have an opinion, like seriously how many times do we need to have this conversation?
@@strafer8764 But niether of these movies is that original.
The Ring came out way before It Follows and Smile with a very similar premise. A nigh unstoppable entity that will inevitably get its victims.
Personally, I love the ending so much. Trauma can absolutely consume its victims and it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective with a different outcome
Everything is traumatic these days lmao
The thing I really liked about this is that despite what we see as the audience, everything can be explained away in some manner. The movie walks a very fine line in that regard. Even the scene where Rose’s therapist becomes the entity and directly threatens her. We just abruptly cut to Rose stressed out in her car after she’s being pinned against the wall. This suggests it was just in her head.
It’s ALWAYS been just in her head that’s the whole movie none of it is real it’s all just the entity playing with her there’s even a whole minute dedicated to the entity EXPLAINING that it has full control over her mind
@@ninjaslash52_98 I agree but also how do you explain the dead cat? Did Rose do it unknowingly?
@@ilovemovies5410 yeah. the smiler basically made her kill the cat, and wrap it up but she thought she was wrapping a regular gift which is why she doesn’t remember it happening. he played her like a puppet on a string
I would say her not immediately being put on antipsychotics after starting to vividly hallucinate is pretty unrealistic. That’s literally what they are prescribed for, you don’t have to be delusional to get access to them.
Just remember folks... The entity is just a metaphor for trauma.
There are two things about this film that horrify me.
The absolutely most stressful part was watching her refuse to accept any help at all. It doesn't matter if the entity was real or not. Don't ignore your friends and family.
The second, the absolute denial that she had when refusing to acknowledge that she was no longer in control of her own body. While in one way it was the "entity" that boxed the cat. It was her body that was being used. It was the same with the open back door. All the strange things are likely to have been carried out by her while having a seizure or being "possessed". This was the same as the man in prison, he told himself he had no choice it was murder or suicide. This isn't true... He convinced himself, who knows what other options these people had when they failed to simply explore other methods.
The sort of viscerally terrifying thing to think about with this even outside of the plot is that other species can misinterpret human smiles as an aggression display, and the same is true in reverse. There’s a reason that we find an overly-large grin in the dark so terrifying.
it's a metaphor for the damage suicide does to those left behind
I like this view
Although Rose’s mother was technically a suicide attempt.
When she fell through that glass table. No one helped her. Even I was like “damn I get that she boxed you an expired cat. But c’mon she’s bleeding all over the floor.” Someone get her a napkin.
I know she didn’t box the cat.
I just realised, the entity ensured that the next... host I guess?... beyond Joel, would be the little nephew. It seems to prey on people with a history of trauma, making them witness a suicide to push them over the top. The entity used and manipulated Rose into traumatising the nephew on his birthday, giving him past trauma, and making him vulnerable to the entity through Joel.
Oh trauma and how each of us deal with it in our own way.
As a corporal I’m sure you know a lot of trauma LOL
I feel like one way to fight it would be to buy as many haunted items as you could while going to an extremely haunted area and hoping all of the entities would battle as they all have different goals and rules. Like, for example, as soon as you figure out the pattern you head straight for the Amityville house and hope the demons in the house have beef with the smile entity because they have other plans with you
That’s such a bullshit way of dealing with ghost shenanigans
I gotta remember that I love it
If a ghost killed me I’d just haunt him right back.
Ah yes Jason vs Freddy style XD
See this is why it's good for a person's soul to be in a contract. Entities do not tolerate competition messing with their interests...
Wouldn't that just mean that the surviving/strongest ghost will be left with you making your haunting situation even worse?
Trading your low tier ghost with a high tier one is suboptimal.
This thing was amazing. We now have a Trauma Monster and an STD one
Because these entities exist!!!
@@lucre113 yeah, they're called exes who don't tell you they have herpes.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau good one 🤣👍
@@appalachiabrauchfrau hahahaha
I love how simple yet genius the design of the creature is
Sure it’s just a lump of flesh but the way it’s stretched out makes it look like it’s smiling, wether it’s a genuine smile or not is another topic but you don’t know if it’s a smile of glee, malice or actual happiness in it’s own twisted way
Also how there are a bunch of rows of teeth inside it, reminds me old internet happy faces like :))))
I see this film as a reflection of society currently. Alot of people are mentally ill now a days and dont seek proper therapy. People walking around day to day just getting by, forced to "smile" through the pain they deal with. It can turn rotten for some of those stricken by mental health issues. Where you see on the news about people killing all these other people, or how our national suicide rate has increased exponentially over the years. And how these actions taken by those with mental health issues, traumatized those around them. From the mass shooter to depressed guy in his mom's basement. I think it was a symbolic. At least in my opinion.
You know some movie monsters I feel like could just use a firm "f*ck off" and a punch to the nose to go away. For some reason when watching the movie I felt like the Trama demon would have been one of those monsters.
Fear quickly turns to Anger then Hatred. Take a fucking axe to that thing atleast die fighting right?
@@eldenlord5938 I don't think the movie director wanted people to take away turn your trauma into anger. But I mean if a trauma demon was harassing me I get pretty pissed off and smack it upside the head. I feel like it's a shark or a bear and it looks and acts all tough but when even the slightest bit of resistance is sent it's way it would cower in fear.
@@chulitna5838 And then come back to whisper at you in the darkness at 3 AM when you can't sleep.
@@chulitna5838I mean it certainly seems like the director was saying “it’s impossible to escape your trauma and it will destroy you or everyone else” which is a shit message for someone with trauma
Yea I definitely would’ve fought or tried to beat this thing
This entity is beyond terrifying.
This movie is on the Babadook level of horror. Very impressive. Trauma is an extraordinarily ugly thing. My friend suffered from extreme childhood trauma, but not the kind induced by death... There are things in life that can happen that cause unspeakable psychological horror and pain. The movie does a good job at showing how trauma in general effects people and those around them. Those afflicted with extreme trauma usually shut out everyone around them for this reason. They don't want to harm others and blame themselves beyond reason for the bad things that happened to them.
I miss my friend... I really cared about her, and still do. This movie makes me feel even more sympathy for her then ever. She's still alive and trying to find peace in her life, but she kind of shut me out and doesn't speak to me anymore. I have been desperate to reach out, but can't bring myself to handle the pain of getting pushed away again. I don't blame her though. She has been through enough in her life, and this movie is a reminder of how far trauma can root itself into someone.
Always look out for others and be kind. You never know what some people have experienced...
Babadook sucked
Bless you for these words. Empathy is really a value that our world needs more than anything. Unfortunately, it's easily preachable but less easy to actually be empathetic.
I'm so sorry about your friend, and I'm sorry for you too. I can only tell you that time heals a lot of wounds. Don't lose hope, for you and your friend ❤
I was really rooting for her in the end. It just feels like a psychological movie telling me trauma wins everytime.
1:20 is the best jumpscare i've seen in recent memory. knowing the convo they had prior and her body language, I was expecting the sister to say something. NOPE!
You’re lucky you didn’t watch the trailer because they added this scene, spoiling the jump scare. I guess they felt having it on the trailer got people to theater seats.
I was surprised by how much I liked this one. My expectations were pretty low though and I wasn't 100% sure what the plot was. All I had seen were some short clips from TikTok that didn't tell what the movie was about.
I don't scare easily with movies (I watch them alone at night) and the car scene got me! It's been a long time since a movie scared me so much I had to pause it and take a minute. I was not expecting it! I really thought it was her sister coming back to say something more.
I’m so stoked that you’re almost at 1 mil bro! You deserve it 🔥🤙🏼
Thanks Austin!
Never in my life would I imagine nearly getting a heart attack just by scrolling and seeing 'that' thumbnail
I think the Trauma Entity is extremely patient and uses psychological tactics to make sure you never truly isolate yourself. It needs a witness in order to spread. I think that's why every victim dies on different days. The trauma entity finds the perfect moment to kill and pass itself on to the next host.
Seeing Kal Penn as the boss is the scariest part. I can only see him as high trying to get to white castle
Eventually he had to grow up and finish college to get a career, see that’s the real horror here, damn it I need to finish college too 😂😭
I had Watch a lot of horror movies in my lifetime a few impacted me in a terrifying way and this film is one of them. Its been a while since I’ve felt that level of terror since I was eight years, and my god the experience it gave me was exactly that.
I want to give a big round of applause to Mr. Finn, you have a lot of talent sir and I sure hope to see more:)
probably because this is based off real life concepts
Patrick, we seem to have very similar movie viewing backgrounds - however I have not seen this one yet. Your remark about being impacted in a terrifying way struck a chord with me because that's exactly how I felt after watching Hereditary. I was curious if you had seen it and had a similar experience....
@@Manic_Drone_Idiom it’s almost as if it’s because these movies are based on real-life energy-feeding entities
@@lucre113 like who huh? Tell us
@@lucre113 ain't no way you think demons and ghosts exist 😭😭
THAT CAR SCENE!!!! I don't scare easily, but that part got me.
I wasnt expecting a jump scare and i legitimately threw my phone
Very innovative I guess
Seriously from all the scary things , the cat was the one?
@@chrisd997 what cat? I'm talking about the scene right after she argues with her sister and is in her car. Her "sister" then walks back out of the house, knocks on the window, and her head swings down.
@@Claire_Loves_Music my mistake! indeed the scene was crazy scary.
Ngl this movie had a really weird and cool concept for a horror flick and made it work
I like that you made a comparison to Pennywise, considering both entities share a trait of feeding off the trauma/ fear of its victims. If Pennywise and the Smile entity existed in the same universe, I wonder if they would team up or fight each other for taking their share of trauma food.
I was watching thinking it was like Pennywise feeding off the persons fear and like IT could be beaten through overcoming fear. But then realised trauma, especially one just witnessed is not overcome so quickly or even truely able to be overcome but only learned to live with
I gotta say as someone who has seen a lot of horror movies in the past few years with creepy monsters, this one got me. That final monster was definitely one of the most creepy designs since the one in The Ritual.
The ritual is terrifying. The monster design is great. That’s the type of horror movies I like the most: creature horror
“Lights out” is also a similar vibe, both pretty good for what they were surprisingly. Impactful to the imagination
Gotta correct you and say that Laura wasn’t the girl Rose sees every time. The girl smiling at the birthday party was some random chick we never see again in the movie and also the woman on the security call wasn’t Laura. It was the actual woman from the security company. It’s the same voice when the real phone call comes in the second time the phone rings.
That random girl could've just found it funny.
that was one of her sister's friend
@@ninja.saywhat I don’t think it was any real or specific person. Just think it was a random person the entity chose to resemble
So that wasn’t the girl who passed on the curse to Laura in the psychiatric ward?
@@MrIainNox No. Definitely a different person.
The ending made me so mad in the cinema. He KNEW what would happen and he still stared and just...let it happen. Mf get OUT OF THERE
Is it me or does the ending give a feeling that joel has a better chance of surviving because he was there for rose the entire time and would know more info than someone who has no idea about the situation
I said the same thing, joel has the cheat codes.
That’s why I hope there’s a sequel. Movie almost makes it feel like a prequel with how they set him up
Only problem with that is, he doesn’t know about killing someone else. He had to leave the room so he doesn’t have that piece of information. Would be cool to see him loosing it and accidentally killing someone else and realizing how it works.
@@CallMeMistaPepe what’s crazy if they set that up in the sequel and his trauma was accidentally killing someone as a cop
@@NinjaCamper94 could set it up that in the end he shot her, shooting an ex you’re still in love with would cause some type of trauma. Would work because of how the end cuts off.
Watching this video reminded me of "the smiling man" an old creepypasta that absolutely terrified me the first time I read it and saw the artistic renditions of what the man could've looked like. There's something very creepy about unsettling wide smiles. The only proper nightmare I've ever had as a child ended with someone or something within one of those boxes filled with power cables luring me to it and as I looked into the hole that was in said box it gave me a wide grin and I woke up.
I was ashamed to be disturbed by smiledog, I was in high school ffs. So, you're not alone with being afraid of a smile copypasta lol. Must be some buried instinctual fear of grinning, since apes grin for much diff reasons than we do, or maybe I just don't want to admit that I was simply afraid of a badly done shop of a husky with people teeth.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau grinning can easily be creepy, especially when unnaturally wide. That said, smile dog was one of the worst creepypastas back then I agree. the smiling man however is actually pretty well written and is very creepy. It's what I was reminded of with this movie. Also back when smile dog was around us who were kids, teenagers or below, seemed to get creeped out by even the lowest effort creepypastas lol. Jeff the killer was really popular despite being arguably the worst creepypasta of all time.
If Creepypasta was a movie. This will be it
I like the nick name given to this thing, definitely more than appropriate. Especially since it's a sadistic killer. Giving almost infinite joy, and feasting off the traumatized and the depressed, it will always smile.
An excellent horror film that brings light to how trauma/PTSD can manifest in someone and escalate to the point that it completely overtakes and destroys your life eventually leading to suicide or get passed on by doing some awful to other people from the one suffering from it. A bold move by the director to give it the ending it had. It's rare for a horror movie to stick in your mind for days after like this one did for me.
And as for the whole smile thing, I remember reading somewhere that people that pick a specific date for them to do it, in the last day or two some become upbeat and happy because they know their suffering will be over soon.
One of the first horror movies that actually made me squirm in a long while. Props to the director and screen writers
I felt so bad for mustache the cat... Such a good horror movie though
I reckon the cat was called that because the pattern on his upper lip looks like a mustache
One thing that annoyed me is when her fiancé accuses her of killing the cat when she could’ve just said that it must’ve been whoever broke in the house . She literally has proof that the alarm was triggered and cops were there to check . Idk why he would think it was her .
This is a good movie but trying to follow the logic too much would take you out of it. For an instance, in the movie she was absolutely TERRIBLE at explaining what was happening to her when she literally had the evidence in her hands. And when there is a chain of 19 murders where the victims had a history of chain interaction with one another, the FBI would be all over it. And the cop who found the pattern didn't report it to anyone?????
When I watch movies I try to put myself in a "movie mode" where I turn my thinky-thinky part off and enjoy the "movie logic" but sometimes it gets so dumb that I can't help but to groan a little bit.
ive actually hand first hand encounter with an entity like this.
once when i was younger i was in my kitchen at 2am yelling 'WE LIKE FORTNITE' for several hours and in entity that looked exactly like my mother showed up and beat the shit out of me
Smile, along with Barbarian, are some of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time. One aspect of Smile that doesn't get enough attention is the sound design! From the opening credits to the last scene, the sounds are as scary as anything you're seeing on the screen.
If you want a good movie recomendation,kinda scary, quite gory and true to history "volhynia" is a good choice
I was really surprised by Smile. I saw it as a double feature with Terrifier 2.
I was worried it was gonna be like truth or dare or the The Bye Bye Man. But it was actually more like it follows. It was full of constant tension, good acting story was pretty good. The only real hang up I had was with the ending. It would have been more emotionally fulfilling if when she overcame her trauma, she had broken the cycle and taken it’s power to perpetuate itself away from it. But maybe that would have been to much like the Babadook.
This. Is how pennywise should have evolved. A being preying on the fears of being an adult it’s a lot more terrifying as you get older. Social expectations of being seen as absolutely fine to everyone and the moment you act up you’re instantly afraid of everything unraveling and therefore your fear takes hold. This a perfect feast for him as that would force him to truly become more twisted
Smile, though your heart is aching...
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by...
If you smile through your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You'll see the sun come shining through... for you...
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide every trace of sadness,
Although a tear may be ever so near...
That's the time you must keep on trying...
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you just smile...
This movie similar to Drag Me To Hell and It Follows plot a little bit.
As a devout fan of the Horror genre, I feel in love with this movie! IMO, one of the better modern Horror films as of lately since IT: CHAPTER 2 & EVIL DEAD (remake). It has great elements which make for a well done film of its kind. 'No where to run' Check 👍 'No where to hide' Check 👍& 'No one believes you' Check 👍. Very scary things for our lead protagonist to be forced to deal with. I think of how John Carpenter used isolation and having his characters 'boxed in' with no where to run very often in his movies which where fantastic traits. THE THING, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, & GHOSTS OF MARS are just a few that come to mind.
'Tip of the hat' for the xcellent use of the music for the film to boot! Not everyone in my circle loved it as much as I did, however I highly recommend it for every Horror enthusiast who enjoy a good scare.
So I'm a bad incident away from hallucinogenic trauma? awesome.
This is probably the only movie I've watched as an adult that genuinely freaked me out, I love it
I adore monsters like this - the kinds that are based in psychological horror, mental issues, and trauma. It’s not only more ‘realistic’ to me, but it shows how one’s actions can effect others and that certain horrors will forever haunt us. We can never truly run from them, we can only try our best to keep our distance and try to manage things so they don’t get worse.
Reminds me of The Babadook, which is also a psychological movie but based in a mother’s trauma and how she slowly turns into an abuser.
Absolutely f*cking terrifying
I appreciate these thorough reviews of movies I have no intention of ever watching.
I think the Smiler wins by slowly whittling away at the victim’s willpower through all of its twisted shenanigans. When the victim is emotionally worn down and has completely succumbed to despair, the Smiler can take control. Since this game comes down a battle of wills if prefers victims who are already weekend by trauma. Although, even a highly resilient, individual can only take so much harassment from a supernatural entity before he, or she cracks.
I enjoyed that the entity is basically using the same tricks horror movies use to scare audiences. Jump scares. Sound engineering. Plot twists. So we, the audience, are the victims of the horror movie, the entity, trying to scare us.
Yeah so I guess we won't get none of those Joker like Smiles like we did on the movie Truth or Dare. Which to be honest with you I didn't think that movie was all that bad I've seen worse.
Really felt for this character, the actress did a really good job in this film and it was scary as hell.
I watched this movie when it arrived to streaming services. I had just went through a 2 year psychotic event caused by a bad reaction to experimental ADHD meds. In my psychosis, I was being haunted by 3 silence demons that only I could see who had over a 3 month period burned me alive every night before bed. They would then appear in my day to day life, in anything mirrored and their shapes would hide in the shadows.
They had 3 very distinct appearances only I knew.
However, an extremely spiritual person I spent time with recalled to me a dream she had about me where she found me with demons attached to my sleeping body and she described the details only I could have known about these entities. She had no idea of my hidden story
I had 18 mental health professionals overseeing my case at 1 point.
But once I left moved out of the apartment I lived in. The onslaught quickly diminished. Now I only suffer from bad dreams and CPTSD.
This movie felt very close to home for me from the view of our protagonist Rose. It certainly makes you wonder about the blurred lines of perceptial reality.
Could it be interdimensional crossover? A reach from biblical hell, or simply neuro chemistry gone astray?
Good movie though. Keep up the good work 😊
What if “Laura hasn’t slept” was a prequel to “Smile?” But the entity messed with Laura with dreams instead?
Really good film however I feel that they missed out on making the trauma metaphor come full circle. They could've made the main way to defeat the entity is by conquering one's own trauma that way the allegorical theme of trauma destroying lives would demonstrate how conquering your own trauma is the only way you'll be set free
They sort of alluded to that when Rose “killed” the entity only to find out later trauma just stays with you. One does not “conquer” trauma: one learns to accept and live with it.
The thumbnail looks so creepy, like something out of Clive Barker!
As always, make believe is metaphor for real life. Generational trauma is passed on. A bad day at work is taken out on loved ones or road rage. I feel the 'infection' of trauma in me. It makes you not you.
ugh, I hate when bad stuff happens to innocent cats... I have two cats who I love dearly.
the entity really through me off like it's design really just shocked me so much I felt so uncomfortable afterwards which really doesn't happen to me the ending was truly unexpecting